Tuesday, March 18, 2008

More on Fairy Tales

I'm rereading The Read Aloud Handbookby Jim Trelease and he also makes a case for fairy tales. He says that if we purge stories of risks and homogenize them then we make them predictable and boring. Why then bother reading them? Boring does not build a nation of readers.

He also says that this deprives children of heroes, understanding, emotions, and empathy. If we are not allowed to feel for a character, how can we feel compassion?